Suzy: Holiday (feat. DPR LIVE) Review

Suzy, having built up anticipation for her long-awaited comeback by dropping prerelease track “I’m In Love With Someone Else” a few weeks ago, has now released her new album, “Faces of Love.” It’s a gentle, mild creature, replete with contemplative piano ballads and soothing downtempos. Leading the chill concept of “Faces of Love” is the drop-dead-gorgeous title track “Holiday,” featuring DPR LIVE. This is a total 180 from the former miss A member’s previous solo over a year ago with the tense, uneasy “Yes No Maybe.” “Holiday” is here to relax, utilizing a more minimalist approach than what we usually see from K-pop, with a simply enchanting result.

Suzy’s feather-soft vocals and sweet delivery could not be more suited to this track. Her voice, hand in hand with the lovely melody, has the opportunity to meander over the watercolor texture of “Holiday” and find delight in the surprise of what it encounters. There’s a sense that the composition is shapeshifting measure by measure, not disruptively but naturally, as a cloud does in the wind. The serendipitous harmonies and dissonances that result give “Holiday” an enduring quality that doesn’t get old. DPR LIVE’s voice lends a touch of fun to the song’s serene atmosphere, and it feels like a breath of summer in the middle of January.

The rest of the album is mostly as quiet as or quieter than the title track. “I’m In Love With Someone Else,” the prerelease single from a few weeks ago, is a good song, but it’s a very typical Korean pop piano ballad. Other slow songs on the album have more compelling melodies, including the quaint “Midnight” and the mellow “Sleeplessness.” Still, out of all the album’s B-sides, “SObeR” is the obvious standout. The most upbeat song on the album although it hardly crests mid-tempo, “SObeR” is a feel-good acoustic that’s bubbling with catchy quirks. (I will say, for good measure, that anyone who’s saying she copied Selena Gomez’s “Bad Liar” is delusional—Selena’s far from the first person to utilize a bass-driven beat in this way, and more notably, the composition of “SObeR” is significantly more complex and surprising.) I can’t imagine that anyone could dislike this song, since it’s as much a crowd-pleaser as it is a confirmation of Suzy’s artistry. This was a lovely comeback by our darling Suzy, and I know I’m going to have “Holiday” on repeat for some time to come.